Ashtray and the like



Feb. 14, 1939. W. A. WELDEN ASHTB'AY AND THE LIKE Filed Feb. 25, 1936.riilillulll .llrllifllilllll Inveniar: mZZa'am c/l i Vezdem V (HZ/129sPatented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATE S;

PATENT OFFICE ASHTRAY AND THE LIKE Application February 25, 1936, SerialNo. 65,565

6 Claims.

My invention, which relates'to ash trays, and has among its objects theprovision of a tray provided with means for ready disposal of ashes andbutts into a closed receptacle, will be best understood from thefollowing description when read in the light of the accompanying drawingof an embodiment of-the invention, the scope of which latter will bemore particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:-

Figure 1 is aside elevation of an ash tray constructed'according to theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing theash trayresting upon a support;

Fig; 3 is a section corresponding to Fig. 2, with the parts in adifferent operative position; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view, and Fig. 5 a bottom view, of the ash trayaccording to Fig. 1.

As illustrated; the ash tray comprises a container of suitable material,for example metal, having the cylindrical side wall I "and flat bottomwall 3.

The container shown has aremovable top closure imade, for example, ofmolded phenol a condensation product. The lowermost part of thecylindrical edge of the closure is shown as provided with a reduceddiameter portion l adapted slidably to fit the interior surface of theuppermost portion of the side walls of the container, this reduceddiameter portion forming, with the body of the closure, an exterior,downwardly facing, annular shoulder 9 adapted to rest upon the top edgeof the side walls of the container.

Further, as illustrated, the container is formed at itsupper side witharecess H, which recess has a central bottom opening bounded by theannular seat l3 for a valve-like member iii, the latter convenientlybeing formed of sheet metal and, as illustrated, being approximatelysemispherical in shape with its convex side adapted to project throughthe bottom opening in the closure when the parts are in the positionshown by Fig. 2.

In the present embodiment of the invention the flat bottom wall of thecontainer is pressed in- O wardly to form a recess ll through whichextends a tube I9 having an exterior end flange 2| soldered or otherwisesecured to the under side of the container at the bottom of the recess.This tube serves as a guide for the tubular stem 23 of the valve l5, thestem slidably extending into the tube and its upper end being solderedor otherwise secured to the under side of the valve. As furtherillustrated, slidably mounted in the tubular stem 23 is a plunger 25,the lower end portion of which extends through the bottom of the stemand is-provided at its lower extremity with a flat, disk-like head 21.The stem at itslower end is shown as formed with an inturned flange 29,having a perforation through which the plunger extends, so that theplunger at its lower end is guided by the wall of the perforation.Interiorly of the stem at its upper end portion is a sleeve 3i which atits upper extremity is also soldered to the valve i5, the upper end ofthe plunger extending into and slidably fitting this sleeve and beingguided by it. Interiorly' of the stem and surrounding the lower part ofthe plunger is a light compression-spring 33, which at its upper endabuts the lowerend of the sleeve 3|, and, at its lower end, abuts a pin35; this pin extending through a perforation, diametrically formed inthe plunger, and projecting radially therefrom at opposite sid-esthereof.

In the above construction, when the bottom of the container rests upon asupport S, as indicated in Fig. 2; the plunger 21 is pressed inwardlyand causes thespring 33 yieldingly to hold the valve I5 against its seatl3, so as to close the bottom opening of the recess llin the closure 5for the container. the support the valve is no longer pressed againstthe" seat l3, but moves downwardly relative to the closureand thecontainerunder the influence of gravity into the position illustrated byFig. 3.

In this latter position the valve rests upon the b top edge 31 of thetube IS, the spring 33 under these conditions moving the plungerdownwardly-relativeto the stemto cause the pin 35 carried'by theplunger'torest against the upper side of the inwardly projecting flange29 at the a.

bottom of the tubular stem" 23, this flange thus acting to retain theplunger in said stem. When the container is again placed upon thesupport S the head 2! of the plunger engages the support and presses theparts upwardly until the upper surface of the valve l5 again engages theseat l3. The parts are so designed that during the closing operation ofthe valve the latter contacts the seat l3 before the plunger has beenmoved inwardly far enough to cause its lower face to lie in the plane ofthe lower face of the bottom of the container.

It will be noted that in the embodiment of the invention above describedthe tubular member 23 and plunger 25 from one aspect form a stem for thevalve consisting of two parts having a connection between thempermitting lost motion longitudinally of said stem. This lost motionconnection, in conjunction with the spring 33, is effective to hold thevalve firmly against its seat,

When the container is lifted from which would be next to impossible ofaccomplishment, in a practical sense, in the absence of the lost motion,because of the practical impossibility of insuring that the stem is ofexactly the right length to hold the valve against its seat when thelower end of the stem is in contact with the support. Also it provides aconstruction which eliminates errors caused by discrepancies inmanufacture, and insures proper closure of the valve in instances wherethe closure is not forced downwardly relative to the container farenough to cause the shoulder 9 to rest upon the top edge of the sidewalls of the container, which might happen if foreign matter isinterposed between said shoulder and top edge. It further insures thatthe valve will be seated when the container is placed upon a supportwith an irregular surface.

It will be understood that wide deviations may be made within the scopeof the appended claims from the particular embodiment of the inventionillustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a container having anopening, a movable valve for said opening, and means adapted to beoperated by contact with a support for said container for moving saidvalve to a predetermined position, said means having a yieldablesupport-contacting part relative to which said container moves to engagesaid support after said valve is moved to said position.

2. A device of the character described comprising a container having anopening, means providing a valve for said opening urged toward openposition, a seat for said valve, and means adapted to be operated bycontact with a support upon which the bottom of said container is placedfor holding said valve against said seat said means having a yieldablesupport-contacting part relative to which said container moves to restupon said support after said valve is moved into contact with said seat.

3. A device of the character described comprising a container having anupper opening, a vertically movable valve for said opening adapted tomove downwardly into open position under the force of gravity, a stemfor said valve, a hollow guide receiving said stem, the interior of saidguide opening upon the under side of the bottom of said container, saidstem having a relatively movable part adapted to extend through saidguide to below said bottom and to contact a support upon which saidbottom is placed, and a spring acting to urge said part downwardlyrelative to said valve.

4. A device of the character described having, in combination, acontainer, a removable closure for said container formed to provide uponits upper surface a depression with a bottom opening, a verticallymovable valve having a sloping upper surface adapted to project throughsaid opening from the under side of said closure and to engage saidclosure to close said opening, an upwardly projecting tubular membercarried by the bottom wall of said container, the interior of whichmember opens upon the under side of the bottom of said container, adownwardly extending stem for said valve projecting into and guided bysaid tubular member, said stem having a lower portion extending throughsaid member to below the bottom of said container, and a compressionspring cooperating with the body of said stem and said portion thereoffor yieldingly urging said portion downwardly relative to said valve.

5. A device of the character described comprising a container, a coverfor said container having an opening, which cover is carried by saidcontainer for relative vertical movement, means providing a valve memberfor said opening mounted for vertical movement away from said openinginto the interior of said container, means adapted to be operated bycontact with a support upon which the bottom of said container is placedfor holding said valve in closed position, said last mentioned meanshaving a yieldable support-contacting part relative to which saidcontainer moves to rest upon the support after said valve is moved toclosed position.

6. A device of the character described having, in combination, acontainer, a removable top cover therefor provided with an opening, avalve in said container operatively beneath said cover adapted tocooperate with said opening and seat on said cover for closing saidopening, operating means for closing said valve carried by saidcontainer independently of said cover, said operating means beingactuated to close said valve by contact with the support upon which thebottom of said container rests and comprising a supportcontacting partbeneath the bottom of said container, means yieldingly urging said partoutwardly of said container relative to said valve when said valve seatson said cover, said container being movable to rest its bottom upon saidsupport after said valve is moved by said operating means to seat onsaid cover by contact of said part with said support.

WILLIAM A. WELDEN.

